Although the underlying groove running through this Bristol art-punk trio’s latest offering may have Foo Fighter fans ears pricking up, they would be entirely missing the point, but what’s new? For if there is any connection between the two bands it is that Dead Royalties sound like what Grohl and the boys could be if they stopped living on past glories, stopped peddling a sound that comes out of their commercial comfort zone, had something to say and injected a wonderful jarring angularity to their songs. Doing what they do best Dead Royalties continue to genre hop between a pop aware grunge sound, slightly mathy structures that remind us of the members past exploits and a clean-limbed punk drive and they do so with a unique ease. The accompanying song, Sons and Daughters, whilst possibly not being quite so immediate, is one whose brilliance reveals itself after a few plays. A slow burning exercise in dynamic builds which dives between punchy riffs, introspective delicacy and even has room for some dark and dreamlike vocal harmonies, yet all the time headed towards a wonderful crescendo playing out with some scratchy and claustrophobic sonic madness. There are many bands working with the fall out of sounds that link punk with grunge and post-punk with 90’s US college rock, but none seem to do it in such an original way as Dead Royalties. With most bands their most interesting aspect seem to be their musical references, the music they revere, where they come from, with Dead Royalties it is all about where they are going.
Revolting Revolution video HERE
